The Widmann Blog » crime http://blog.widmann.org.uk Thomas Widmann's blog about politics, linguistics, programming, food, kids and life in general Fri, 18 May 2012 22:02:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Theft as marketing http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2010/02/27/2128/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2010/02/27/2128/#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:21:19 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=2128 It looks like Sony have vandalised an important landmark in Amsterdam in order to promote a new game (hat-tip: Dina).

It probably seemed like a fun idea to Sony’s marketing department, but I do hope they will be prosecuted harshly, because it sets a very dangerous precedent if you can commit crimes without punishment if it’s for marketing purposes.

I mean, in the first instance it might only be the letters in Hollywood’s logo that get stolen, but what will the next step be?

Will you be allowed to hijack planes to promote a new plane game, or perhaps even blow up a building to promote a new version of Worms?

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2010/02/27/2128/feed/ 4 1000 CCTV cameras to solve one crime http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/08/26/1463/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/08/26/1463/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:00:39 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=1463

One nation under CCTV
Originally uploaded by jordi.martorell

There was a must-read article in The Telegraph yesterday about CCTV cameras.

It points out that very few crimes are solved due to the cameras: “For every 1,000 cameras in London, less than one crime is solved per year.”

I’m sure there are many other ways to spend the money that would lead to more crimes being solved.

But I guess Brits have got too used to them: “Britain has 1 per cent of the world’s population but around 20 per cent of its CCTV cameras – which works out as the equivalent of one for every 14 people.”

I remember that when I moved to Scotland, I noticed all the cameras and I really felt watched at all times, but after a few months they somehow became invisible – I guess there are simply so many of them that the mind doesn’t register their presence.

There’s also a revealing quote towards the end of the article: “The Home Office defended the use of CCTV, with a spokesman saying cameras could ‘help communities feel safer’”.

So the reason for having them is not to make communities safer, but to lull them into a false sense of security.

I think that’s a dangerous path. What will be next? Will they start publishing fictional accounts of successful police operation just because that would make people feel safer, too?

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/08/26/1463/feed/ 0 How to commit a crime according to New Scientist http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/01/23/262/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/01/23/262/#comments Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:14:00 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=262 I get to read New Scientist through my work (under the pretext of looking for new words). In a recent issue, a reader gave the following advice about how to commit a crime:

There is a simpler way for master criminals to throw the police off the scent. If they have blood samples from other people these could be placed at the scene. Or anonymous donor red blood cells could be mixed with DNA amplified from a hair from someone they want to frame to create a blood-like residue. Picking up an ashtray of cigarette stubs from a public place and leaving these at a scene would be the simplest way to create confusing DNA evidence.

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